Will you please turn to the book of Jeremiah?
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Now the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;
and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee;
I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.
Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.
But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child;
for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go,
and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak.
Be not afraid because of them;
for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
Then the Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth;
and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth:
see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou?
And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen:
for I watch over My word to perform it.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah:
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;
which My covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord:
I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it;
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord;
for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord:
for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
Dear Heavenly Father, our hearts do bow before Thee, knowing that Thou art here with us. We draw near to Thee with the spirit of worship, of love, and adoration.
How we praise and thank Thee for all that Thou art and all that Thou hast done for us. Lord, we do thank Thee that Thou givest us another opportunity to meet together, that Thou mayest continue to speak to us and to continue to work in us until Thy work is done and Thy name is glorified.
So we just commit our time into Thy hands. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
These mornings, we consider together this matter of recovery according to the major prophets. We know that God has been, and is still, doing the work of recovery. By recovery, we mean that He is to recover all to His original purpose. He is to recover all to Himself. And thank God that we are in that recovery; we are His work of recovery.
Yesterday morning, we considered together recovery according to the prophet Isaiah. We find that God gave Isaiah a vision, and that vision is the vision of spiritual reality—all that eternal truth. This is what God wants to lay before us, and this is what He wants to recover to the fullest extent.
The only channel, the only vessel, the only way of recovery, is through His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. So that is the reason why we find in the book of Isaiah the Messiah, the Redeemer, and the King before us. It is only in Him that God is able to recover all to Himself.
This morning, we would like to consider together before the Lord recovery according to the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah—the very name means, “The Lord is exalted.” He prophesied during the reigns of King Josiah, King Jehoiakim, and King Zedekiah. In other words, his prophetic ministry extended over forty years.
He was of the priestly family, of the priests in Anathoth. Of course, we know that, as someone of the priestly family, he must have been trained from his early childhood to be a priest, to serve in the temple, in the house of God.
But one day, the word of the Lord came unto him, and God called him to be a prophet.
The Lord said, “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. I appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.” The call of the Lord came upon this young man, Jeremiah.
Now, brothers and sisters, I do feel that the call of Jeremiah is a typical example of all the callings of God to all God’s people. In the call of Jeremiah, we can learn some principles that underlie the calling of God.
First of all, God said, “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.” Here we find the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign. He is our Maker. He is the One who formed us, and because He is our Maker, our Creator, He has every right over us.
The word knew here, we are told in Hebrew, means more than intellectual knowledge. It is more than merely knowing something. The word includes not only knowledge, but personal commitment to what He knows.
In other words, before God formed Jeremiah in the belly, God said, “I knew you.” That is the full knowledge of God. God knows what is going to come forth; and not only that, but God already has a purpose for the one who is to come out of the womb.
The creation of God is marvelous, but the purpose of creation is even more wonderful. God said, “I am your Creator. I created you, but I created you with a very definite purpose. That is what I know of you. And because of this knowledge, I am personally committed to see that what I know of you shall be fulfilled.”
Now, brothers and sisters, this is divine election. To me, I feel there is nothing more comforting than divine election. Even though lots of people question this matter of election, as if they have problems with it, to me it is the greatest comfort and assurance.
Knowing that God is sovereign, that He knows everything, and that what He has foreknown He has predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son—God is personally committed to see to it that those whom He has foreknown will be conformed to the image of His beloved Son.
Now, brothers and sisters, can there be a better assurance, a firmer security, than this? Divine election.
Then the Lord said, “Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee.” Before God formed him, God knew him, and God was committed to him. Then God said, “Before you came out of your mother’s womb, I had already separated you.”
This is divine separation. God has separated those whom He has foreknown unto Himself. Separation does not begin with our days upon this earth. Divine separation begins before we came forth out of our mother’s womb. God has already done the separation.
Because He has separated us, therefore one day we need to consecrate ourselves to Him. It is God who sanctifies us. It is He who has hallowed us, and for a specific purpose.
Third, He said, “I appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.” This is divine appointment. Now, brothers and sisters, we know that in the service of God, everyone has to be divinely appointed.
God does not need any volunteers. He always drafts us.
You know, in Christianity today, I think this concept of volunteering is very prominent—as if, when you talk about the work of God or the service of God, God is begging people to volunteer for His service. And when people volunteer, they feel that they do God a great honour.
But this is not the scriptural concept. In the Scriptures, you find that in the service of God, God needs no volunteers. He drafts us because He has every right to do it. If He should appoint us to serve Him, He is giving us great honour and great privilege.
Now, probably we are saying, “Did not Isaiah volunteer?” But if you read the context, you find that is not the case. Why? Because first of all, you find God gave Isaiah a vision. In other words, God showed him the spiritual reality.
Because he saw the spiritual reality, he was drawn into the secret counsel of God. God was preparing him all the time. So when he heard the voice, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” he said, “Here am I; send me.”
Not actually voluntarily. Actually, he was constrained—constrained by the love of God, constrained by the vision of God, constrained by what God desired to do. There was no other way but to give himself to God and let God work it out.
So, dear brothers and sisters, you find that in the service of God, it is all by divine appointment. In a very real sense, we are all called of God, because He knew us before He formed us. He separated us before we came out of our mother’s womb.
Then, after we came to Him, He will divinely appoint us to serve Him in His house according to His pleasure. So in the service of God, actually, we have no choice. It is all by divine appointment.
Now, when this call came to Jeremiah, how did he respond? He said, “Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.”
The word child, we are told in Hebrew, does not really mean a child, a baby. It simply means a person who has not yet a recognised place in the community—or, to put it more commonly, a young man still unmarried. So most likely Jeremiah at that time was around twenty years of age.
As one of a priestly family, from one month old he would be numbered. Then, in his childhood, he would be trained very carefully for the future work of priesthood. Jeremiah was waiting for the time when he would enter into the temple to serve God as a priest.
When one of the priestly family came to twenty-five years of age, it was time for him to enter into the temple as an apprentice, to serve with the regular priests. When he was thirty, he would become a regular priest. He would know how to serve in the house of God.
That was what Jeremiah was expecting. He was trained to do that kind of work. He was waiting for the time to come. But God intervened. God came in when he was probably around twenty years of age, and God called him to be a prophet. It was very unexpected.
He said, “Lord, I cannot speak.” Why? Because as a priest, he was trained to serve with his hands, not to serve with his mouth. He was not trained in that way. He felt his inadequacy. He felt that he was not able to do that. He did not have the ability to speak.
Then he said, “For I am but a child. I am only a young man.” In other words, he realised that he was not mature enough. That is a matter of character.
So, dear brothers and sisters, Jeremiah’s response was that he deeply sensed his own insufficiency, both in a matter of ability and in a matter of character.
When the call of God comes to a person, if that person feels that he is adequate—if he feels that he is quite sufficient in ability and character—most likely he has not been called.
Anyone who feels that he is ready, anyone who feels that he has the ability to serve God and is only waiting for the right time, anyone who feels that he has the character for serving God—now, our brother has mentioned again and again how important this matter of character is.
Unfortunately, we always put more emphasis on ability than on character when we come to the work of God. It is true that in the business of this world, ability is what people are looking for. Character is very insignificant. Even though people may not have good character, yet if they are talented and have the ability, you employ them because they can do the work.
But when you come to the work of God, brothers and sisters, God emphasises character much more than ability. As a matter of fact, ability is very minor when you come to the work of God. It is character.
By character, of course, we understand that it is not our natural character. Some people have good flesh, as our brother already mentioned. Adam has lots of good points and lots of bad points. Some people inherit more of Adam’s good points, and other people may inherit more of his bad points, but it is always the natural man.
Some people are naturally very gentle, naturally very hospitable, naturally very open and frank, and easy to get along with. But this is not the character that God is looking for.
There must be a transformation. In other words, all the character mentioned in the Word of God is not natural moral virtue. All the character mentioned in the Scriptures is the result of the incorporation of the life of Christ in us.
We have the life of Christ, and with that new life there is a new nature. But that nature needs to be developed. Only when that new nature is developed does it become character. In other words, the character of Christ has to characterise us. That is what God is looking for.
Even our Lord Jesus, when He was a man, spent thirty years in preparation before He entered into public ministry for just a little over three years. In other words, God emphasises what becomes of us: Is Christ’s character becoming our character?
Does His love characterise our love—not our natural love, but His love? Does His righteousness characterise our righteousness? Sometimes we feel that we are very righteous, but that is self-righteousness, and self-righteousness is very terrible.
It is the righteousness that is of the life of Christ, brothers and sisters. That kind of righteousness is wonderful character. God is looking for men and women of character—of Christian character.
Then, of course, ability has a place, but it is not our natural ability either. It is the enabling of the Holy Spirit that is the ability.
So, brothers and sisters, anyone who feels that he is able, anyone who feels that he has the character, is disqualified. Make no mistake: whenever the call of God comes to a person, the only reaction in that person is this sense of inadequacy, this sense of insufficiency: “Who am I? I am too immature. I do not have the ability to serve.”
Brothers and sisters, God always chooses such people.
As a matter of fact, Jeremiah was not trying to refuse God’s call—not at all. He just deeply felt his own insufficiency.
The Lord said, “Say not, I am a child; for thou shalt go to whomsoever I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.”
In other words, the Lord said, “This is My business. I have chosen thee, I have appointed thee, and I will be with thee. Do not be afraid. Just do whatever I call you to do; go wherever I send you; and speak whatever I speak to you. I am with you to deliver you.”
Your responsibility is simply to yield yourself to Me. Give yourself completely to Me, and I will be responsible for the work.
Thank God, this is always the case. Whenever the call of God comes to us, He Himself is with us, and He is the One who actually does the work. All we need to do is yield to Him and allow Him to speak through us and work through us. That is all that is needed.
Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth, saying, “I have put My words in thy mouth.”
As a prophet of God, it was not Jeremiah’s responsibility to try to find prophecies. God was to put words in his mouth. All he needed was to have his mouth consecrated, separated, and purified—that instead of using his mouth to speak his own words, he would give his mouth to the Lord and let the Lord speak through him.
The ministry of Jeremiah was twofold. On the one hand, it was negative: to pluck up, break down, destroy, and overthrow. On the positive side, it was to build and to plant. God has to break down whatever is not of Him in order that He may build up. That is Jeremiah’s ministry.
He was sent not only to the nation of Judah; he was to be a prophet unto the nations.
Following that, the Lord gave him two visions. The first vision was a rod of an almond tree. I believe God gave him that vision for a very real reason.
Jeremiah was trained to be a priest. He was familiar with what happened in the temple, what things were in the temple, and the history of God’s dealings with His people. So when God showed him a rod of almonds, immediately, I believe, Jeremiah recalled Numbers 17.
There, the matter of priestly ministry was in question. People began to question why Aaron and his family alone were able to serve as priests. “Are we not all holy? Can we not all serve in the house of God as priests?” In other words, the ministry was in question.
The way God settled that question was by asking every tribe to prepare a rod—a branch cut from a tree, a dead rod—with the name of each tribe on each rod, and the name of Aaron on the rod of Levi. These twelve rods were placed before the ark of the covenant through the night.
The next day, when they recovered those twelve rods, the eleven rods remained as dead rods, but Aaron’s rod budded, blossomed, and bore almonds.
This settled the matter of ministry. What does it mean? We know that the almond in Scripture always speaks of resurrection, because the almond is the first tree that bears fruit after winter. So it speaks of resurrection.
These rods represented the twelve tribes of Israel. They were all dead. Dead people cannot serve God, because our God is a living God. They had to be before Him through the night, buried as it were.
But one rod budded, and there were almond flowers and fruit. In other words, one rod was resurrected in life. Only with that resurrection life can you serve the living God.
Here we find a very important principle in the work of God. We are not able to serve God. We are all as dead rods. Dead men and dead women cannot serve the living God.
We have to go through death—buried, as it were—but death out of which the life of God comes forth into resurrection. It is in the power of resurrection life that we are privileged to serve.
That is the way Jeremiah was going to serve. He was not going to serve in his natural ability, his natural temperament, or his natural virtues. No. He knew his inadequacy. But he would serve as a prophet in the power of the resurrection of the Lord. This is the same with all of us.
As you read the book of Jeremiah, it seems as if he did much negative work. We know Jeremiah as a weeping prophet. He wept much.
Seeing God, knowing God’s heart, knowing God’s purpose for His people, and then seeing what was happening with God’s people and what was going on around him, brothers and sisters, he could not but weep.
Sometimes we do not weep. Why? Because we do not see. Well, we do see what is going on around us. We know it is not right. We also see what is going on within us, and we know it is not right either.
But, brothers and sisters, if we do not see God’s heart, if we do not see God’s purpose, if we do not see what God is after, if we do not see what God is able to accomplish, what God has ordained—we see, but we do not see.
We can live on. We can go on as usual, as if nothing has happened.
You remember our Lord Jesus when He was on earth. He went to the temple, and in the courtyard all the bazaars were going on—the selling and buying, the bargaining, and all the noise. This had been going on for years, and people had been going in and out all the time.
I believe there must have been some people, if not all, who did not feel quite comfortable with that kind of thing. All the noises of the world were there, and then you wanted to enter into the quietness of the presence of the Lord. It did not fit.
But people took it and said, “Well, you cannot help it. It is traditional, and it is convenient. That is what it ought to be.” So they just let it go. In other words, you see, but it does not affect you deeply. Most people do not even see what is wrong with it.
They think it is marvellous. It is a good way of serving God because you do not need to carry your lamb or sheep from afar. You can easily buy your sheep there. And, of course, temple money is different, so you have to exchange it. You can just come there and exchange it. Would that not be convenient? Do you think that is the thing to do?
But when our Lord Jesus came into the temple, He could not stand it. Why? Because He saw what the temple really was.
If you do not know what the temple really is, it does not make much difference. But if you know what the temple really is—“My Father’s house,” the Lord said—then you find that He could not stand it.
When our Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem for the last time, He wept over it, because He knew what God meant for His people and what God meant for Jerusalem. But look at what it had become.
Dear brothers and sisters, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The problem with us today is that we are so familiar with what is going on in Christianity, and so familiar with what is going on within us, but we lack a seeing of God’s eternal purpose.
We lack a seeing of God’s heart—what He has ordained, what He is after, what He wants, what He is able to do, and what He looks for. If we have that kind of vision, when we see what is going on on earth, what can we do but weep?
Jeremiah called the people to return to God. Jeremiah warned them, “If you go this way, eventually you will be destroyed. Jerusalem will be destroyed. God’s people will be taken into captivity.”
Again and again, he cried, wept, and warned the people to return to God. But they mocked him. They did not listen to him. They put him into jail. They said he was a disturber; he disturbed the people.
Sure enough, the people entered into captivity. Jerusalem was destroyed, because God had to vindicate His name. He had put His name upon that nation, but that nation had disgraced Him. He had to clear Himself, as it were: “Not My people.”
Jeremiah was not sent merely to destroy and break down. He was sent for the purpose of building and establishing. Here you find that Jeremiah is a prophet of recovery.
He foretold that, in spite of what was going to happen, and though there seemed to be no return, the people would be in captivity for seventy years. After seventy years, there would be a return to Jerusalem. Jerusalem would be reinhabited, the temple would be built, and God would be served. There would be a recovery.
More than that, Jeremiah prophesied that one day God would make a new covenant with His people. When God makes that new covenant with His people, then the recovery will be final and full.
When the children of Israel came back from Babylonian captivity after seventy years, there was a recovery, but it was not a final and full recovery. Most people remained in captivity. Only a remnant returned. Even after they returned, they were scattered again.
It was not a final recovery, but God is working toward recovery, and His work of recovery is complete. How? He said, “One day I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”
When the new covenant is made, then, as you read Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and all these prophets of recovery, you find that there will be a full recovery.
God will say, “This is My people. This is My city, the holy city. This is My dwelling place. My throne is set here. This is a people that worship Me and serve Me.” In other words, there will be a full recovery. But remember, it will be under the new covenant.
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He said, “I made a covenant with them.” God brought them out of Egypt, brought them to Mount Sinai, and there at Mount Sinai God made a covenant with His people.
God said, “If you keep My covenant, if you keep My commandments, you will be My people, and I will be your God, and you will be a nation of priests unto Me.”
This covenant was represented by the Ten Commandments. It was a covenant of law. In other words, God revealed who He is, and He demanded that His people respond to Him.
It was a covenant of law: “Thou shalt, thou shalt.” If thou shalt, then I will. If you prove to Me that you are obeying Me and keeping My commandments, then you are truly My people, and I will be your God.
But we know the law never perfected people. The law was given for transgressions, for the knowledge of transgressions. We know how the children of Israel rebelled against God. Even when the Ten Commandments were given on Mount Sinai, before they reached their hands, they had broken them already.
God said, “I was as a husband. I took your hand and led you, but you shook yourselves away from Me.”
Actually, the covenant God made with the children of Israel was a marriage contract. God took this people as His wife, and He was to be a husband to them. What a husband God was to them. He took their hand and led them.
He nourished them. He cherished them. He tried to build them up. He tried to conform them to Himself. He did everything for them. What a wonderful husband He was to them.
But the children of Israel shook themselves out of God’s hands. They wanted to go their own way. They were unfaithful to God. They tested God again and again, until finally God said, “Because of your unbelief, you cannot enter into your inheritance. You broke the covenant.”
Because they broke the covenant, God said, “I will pass it away.”
Brothers and sisters, under that old covenant God was faithful, but His people were unfaithful. Under that covenant, nothing could be completed; nothing could be accomplished.
But God said, “One day I am going to make a new covenant with you.” Brothers and sisters, this new covenant is a covenant of grace. It is not, “Thou shalt, and I will.” It is, “I will, and I will.”
In other words, God says, “I will take care of it. I am going to do it. It will be all of grace. All you need to do is believe and receive it.”
Recovery is by the law of grace. It is only through grace that recovery is possible.
As you read the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, you find that it is very simple, because that covenant has only three simple articles.
First: “I will put My law in their inward parts, and I will write it upon their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Second: “They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.”
Third: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.”
In this new covenant, there are three provisions. So far as our experience goes, the order is reversed. The order given here is a divine order, but as we experience this new covenant, it seems as if the order is reversed.
The first thing that we experience is the last one: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.” How can it be?
It is because of the blood of the Lamb. Dear brothers and sisters, in order to forgive our sins, God had to sacrifice His only beloved Son. It is through the blood of our Lord Jesus. What a price God had to pay.
You do not need to pay anything. I do not need to pay anything. But He has paid it all. It is with such a price—a priceless price, the blood of our Lord Jesus—that God says, “I will forgive their iniquities.”
Not only, “I will forgive,” but, “I will not remember.” Once forgiven, forever forgiven.
Unfortunately, our mind is a reprobate mind. Even after we come to the Lord and ask for His forgiveness, and we know that He has forgiven us, sometimes we cannot forget. That guilty feeling sometimes bothers us.
But, dear brothers and sisters, know the preciousness of the blood, the power of the blood. He says, “I have forgiven, and I remember no more”—no more, no more.
Thank God for the new covenant, for grace.
The second thing is this: “They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.”
Under the old covenant, you had to be instructed by man. The priests and Levites studied the law, and they had to gather the people, read the law to them, explain it to them, and instruct them. Otherwise, they would not know the Lord.
In other words, under the old covenant, even our knowledge of God was external. It was from mind to mind. It was mental in nature.
But under the new covenant, God said, “No, you do not need to do that anymore, because everyone, every child of God, from the least one to the greatest one, shall know Me.” In the original, it says, “Know Me in themselves.”
The word know, as you read Hebrews 8, is a different word from the first know. The first word, “Know the Lord,” is objective knowledge. But the second know is subjective, personal, experiential knowledge. In other words, it is inward knowledge.
God has put His Spirit in us. Not only are we all forgiven, but the Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit, and the anointing within you shall teach you in all things. What He has taught is true and is not a lie.
Dear brothers and sisters, in every one of us there is the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He is the Teacher. He will teach us in all things, not outwardly but inwardly. He will teach us in our spirit, and in our spirit He will teach us of Christ—from the least one to the greatest one.
Indeed, God does raise up teachers. But remember, teachers are only to confirm or to correct; they are not to direct. It is the Holy Spirit, the anointing within you, who directs your life.
Third, He said, “I will put My law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
In other words, there are not ten commandments, nor many precepts, statutes, and ordinances. There is only one law: the law of the Spirit of life—the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
There is a law written upon our heart, inscribed upon our souls. Brothers and sisters, thank God there is that eternal life in us. There is the law of the Spirit of life. In other words, you not only know, but you are able. There is power there.
The power of resurrection life is in you. Because the life is in you, therefore whatever you know, you are able—not you, but Christ in you.
God said, “I will be your God.” When you think of God, you think of power and authority. God says, “I will be your God. I am your strength. I am your power.” So you can be My people.
He does it all. Brothers and sisters, every provision for us to be fully recovered to God, that He may be glorified in us, is provided in the new covenant.
But you say, “This is a new covenant that God will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah in future days. It has not happened yet. In the millennial kingdom, there is the time when God will make that new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. But what has that to do with us?”
Thank God. If you turn to Luke 22:20, on the night of His betrayal, our Lord Jesus gathered His disciples around Him. Toward the end of the Passover feast, the Lord Jesus took the cup, and He said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Take it; drink of it.”
In other words, brothers and sisters, that new covenant which Jeremiah prophesied hundreds of years before Christ did not seem to be forgotten and lost. No.
On the night of our Lord’s betrayal, He took the cup and gave it to His disciples—the church. He said, “This is the new covenant in My blood. Take it; drink of it.”
On that night, He made a new covenant with His church. So the church is to fulfil what God has promised to the nation of Israel in the millennial kingdom.
Thank God, He does not begin with us with an old covenant. As a matter of fact, He begins with us with the new covenant. Remember, we are a new-covenant people. God has covenanted with us with this new covenant.
By this new covenant, we must live. He will deal with us according to this new covenant, not the old covenant. We have to deal with God by this new covenant, not the old covenant anymore. We live in the new covenant.
What is the new covenant? As Moses represents the old covenant, so Christ is the new covenant.
Brothers and sisters, you remember in Isaiah 42, God said, “I will make thee for a covenant of the people.” When you really look at the new covenant, what do you see there? All you see is that God has given Christ to us.
Christ is our new covenant. What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is none other than Christ—Christ our forgiveness. Forgiveness is not something called forgiveness. You do not come to the Lord and receive a package called forgiveness which you carry away with you. No. Forgiveness is Christ Himself.
He gave you Christ. You believe in Christ. You have Christ. Because you have Christ, you are forgiven. Because you are in Christ, you have life. Because you are in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. Because you have Christ, you have the law of the Spirit of life working in you.
Brothers and sisters, the new covenant is Christ Himself—not a thing, not all things, but a living Christ. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That is what you have. What a Christ we have!
The problem with us today is not that God has not covenanted with us with a new covenant. It is that oftentimes we move away from the new covenant. We go back, in a way, to the old covenant. We move away from Christ and get into all kinds of things.
You know, during the Reformation—we say Reformation is recovery. Why? Because during the Reformation, the truth of justification by faith was recovered. Thank God for that.
But why was it that, after that great rediscovery of justification by faith, and after many seemed to enter into the liberty that is in Christ, not very long afterward even that recovered truth was reburied?
Why did that recovered truth become a creed, a confession of faith, but no longer work? It was because, during the time of the Reformation, when justification by faith was preached, they did not know that justification by faith is not a thing, but a Person.
It is union with Christ that brings in justification by faith. In other words, you lose sight of Christ, and all you get is a dogma.
The same thing happened in the nineteenth century. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, there was a rediscovery of sanctification—the deeper-life ministry. Many people were freed from the power of sin.
But, brothers and sisters, gradually again you find that it became a teaching, a past teaching. Why? Because when you seek deeper life and separate it from Christ, what is that deeper life? No more.
The same thing happened in the twentieth century. In our time, you find a rediscovery of the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank God for that.
But why is it that power has become a problem today? Because it is separated from Christ. The Spirit of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, it is Christ. Christ is the new covenant. We must abide in Him. It is in Him that we are able to live. It is in Him that the recovery work is being done.
Oh, brothers and sisters, Christ—All in all. That is recovery.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast covenanted with us with a new covenant. Oh, do open our eyes to see that Thou hast given Thy beloved Son to us.
It is in Christ that we are forgiven. In Christ that we know the Lord. In Christ that we have the power to do Thy will.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee. Thou hast given us Christ, and in Him all things. We do pray that Thou wilt enable us to look away from everything and anything but to Christ.
Recover us to Christ, and may Christ be recovered to us, to the praise of the glory of God. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.